JAPAN -AUSTRALIA- DEFENCE PACT

Turnbull's Parachute Welcome to Japan Underscores
Military Ties

TOKYO : The Prime Minsters of Japan and Australia toured a military training ground outside Tokyo Thursday-

As the two countries seek to bolster defence ties in the face of of the North Korean crises.

Malcolm Turnbull and Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe are hoping to thrash out a security agreement on joint defence operations and exercises, with one eye also on China as it expands its naval ambitions.

Diplomats are putting finishing touches to the proposed defence pact, which would be the first of its kind for Japan  and would make Australia Tokyo's closest military partner after the United States.

The pact would lay the ground for Japanese military exercises out of Darwin, the northern Australian city heavily bombed by Japan in World War II.

''The [military] agreement when concluded, will be a pillar of the Japan-Australia security cooperation,'' said a Japanese diplomat ahead of the talks.

Both sides say that boosting military cooperation is vital given the tense situation in the region, with  North Korea's bringing the world closer to nuclear conflict than any time since the Cold War.

China's steady expansion of its military and economic influence in Asia Pacific has also encouraged Japan and Australia to draw closer militarily.